Scott Statement on ‘Protect and Serve’ Act

“The evidence shows that violence against law enforcement has been in overall decline for 25 years, and I want that decline to continue. What has changed in recent years is a rising demand by citizens for police accountability. The appropriate response to strained police-community relations is not to criminalize what is already a crime. Instead, we should support bills like the Congressional Black Caucus’s Jobs and Justice Act of 2018, which helps law enforcement obtain training on de-escalation techniques and policing persons who are disabled or mentally ill. The Jobs and Justice Act also makes corrections officers safer by addressing problems of overcrowding, insufficient funding, and the lack of recidivism programming in prisons and jails.”